Peru

Villagers in Andes Mountains See JESUS

New experience of watching film leads to questions, life-change

Bill Hunt

"When are you going to release the people from that box?" the Peruvians watching the JESUS Film in a remote area of the Andes Mountains would ask. While watching the Quechua Ayacucho version of the film, they became concerned about people locked inside the projector.

"It was an area where people had never seen projection equipment," said Pastor Sergio Alanya, who lives about 2 hours from the state capital of Quechua Ayacucho, a 9-hour road journey southeast of Lima.

Sergio stopped the film and explained that there were no people in the projector, but images of actors portraying the life of Christ.

He explained the gospel, and many of the 300 people present indicated decisions to receive Christ.

A 41-year-old Pentecostal pastor, Sergio (above, far left) started using a donkey to transport the heavy equipment to show JESUS in villages after an October show propelled his own church membership from 15 people to approximately 50.

He designed a lighting package to fit into his backpack and walks alongside the donkey at elevations approaching 10,000 feet. He's averaging JESUS film showings twice a week to about 200 people each time.

"When people saw what happened at his church after the film, they began asking Sergio to show the film," says Carlos Olano, project director for Quechua Ayacucho, one of 5 major Quechua dialects in Peru.